The rapper Lethal Bizzle has kicked off a campaign to have the word "dench", which he coined while playing a video game, added to English dictionaries.

After confusing lexicographers with his suggestion in his 2010 single Dench Stamina that "Dench means anything you want", Bizzle defined the word for the Guardian as an adjective that "can be used when complimenting something. For example, 'That car is dench!' Or, 'Oi look at that girl, she's dench!'"

The word was first used while playing a video game with his cousin, the Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong. "Whenever we would score, we would shout 'What a dench goal', and then we started using it on Twitter, Facebook, social media and in songs," Bizzle said.

The rapper appears to be pushing at an open door, with the campaign notching up its first success even before its launch. Macmillan first noted the word in April, and has already included the word in the latest update to its online dictionary, defining dench as "used for saying that someone or something is extremely attractive, fashionable, impressive etc".

According to Macmillan's dictionary editor-in-chief, Michael Rundell, the word "got in on its own merit, and not because a celebrity made it up"

"It passed our criteria in terms of frequency and breadth of use," he said.

For the rapper, Macmillan's decision was "dench", but Bizzle has set his sights on having his word endorsed by the entire lexicographical establishment. The campaign continues with posters on London Underground and on social media.